Yeah, I wonder what they were thinking when they thought those spiral wire whammies were a good idea. I struggled with them, as I was use to the metal whammies, and just squeeze/twist on, adjust and go.

ADC, Come on out for a week in December. I'll be Rat trap'n Runn'n a boat line in NJ. Feburary I'll be in NC with a mixed Boat line

K-9, Very seldom do I snare a coon on open ground. Anything for that matter.I did'nt see where the coon were any better or worse.Rember we dont have the coon denancy out here as you guys got. So I dont have the number of animals to study.Heck I think my biggest coon day was 18.And out here everybody could'nt beleave that I could catch that many.Last year I could'nt 2 a day. So I did'nt even try.Went and traped rats.

I use 14ga. wire to support all my snares from Ground Hog/Rabbit to Black Bear.98% of all my snares that I set are Extension Cabled off to a Tree or some other vegation.I use entanglement and like it.On K-9's if you dont kill'm or tangle'm up. Your gona loose to many.My suport wires are kept short. So when a animal enters a snare the only thing that moves is the LOCK.

(I'll be back monday go'n to the NE NTA)

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Many have followed my tracksAint been no one that could fill my shoesNewt ------------------OVER---------------

K9 you don't have to drive by those water coon if you place your snare as described by ADC. Keep the bottom of that snare loop up around 6 inches and you can sort out the skunks, possum, and small coon no matter where you set. By keeping the snare up, you can leave the small coon to reproduce, grow up, and be worth twice as much next year. That being said, I still think the highest probability of catching large coon is where the coon stay dry and fluffy.

Where I put up most of my coon, I would rather end up with a finished coon worth $25 - $30 than a finished coon worth $10 - $15. That way I can kill half the coon and still end up with the same dollars. I can't brag about the numbers at the coffee shop, but I can still buy coffee. I also have to agree that one must find snare friendly fur buyers and I am also lucky because I have not knowingly been docked for reasonable snare marks. However, I think that rubbing the snare mark area as soon as the animal is dispatched reduces the snare mark.

As sd boy says, it is nice to gang set a trail, pick off the large high value harvestable coon quickly, and move on.

To answer the original question for the thread, I use about a 7"-8" loop about 4"-6" off the ground. I catch very few oppossums (3 last year) and a few more skunks. I also use 3/32 cable and washer locks. I get along just fine with washer locks and have yet to notice them wearing out. I haven't bought new locks in 4 or 5 years, I suppose the wear is something I should watch for.

Dang guys, not sounding like there is much room for a poor Alaskan stuck in Iowa City for the next few seasons.

Illuminating discussion though. Very educational seeing how I have never seen a coon before in my life, let alone tried to trap one! The whole non-lethal snaring idea is quite different then my methods up here.

adc, the way i look at it- you snooze you lose may the best man win. the farms i trap, farmers start telling me in the summer, that i did not get em all. a guy can only skin so many? i also sell to jim, great guy indeed.

Trapperjoe, South Dakota is just a hop away. How do ya set up in AK. As I read this and correct me if i'm wrong but even the true snare believers are turning away from snares somewhat. I bought snares from my buyer this year and he is the same one who paid 10.38 ave on my coon. The dry land thing is somewhat true. Most of my dryland coon were bigger than my water coon. With that being said I don't understand why the pros are shying away from snares on coon. To me it is a numbers game. As far as I know I wasn't docked for a single snare mark. But even if you are, If you catch 20% more coon because you can set out 4-5 snares for every dirthole or cubby set (excluding conibears) and catch more coon how doesn't it add up. How much do you get docked per coon? I'm in no way claiming to be a pro because I'm learning more from this thread everyday but thats how I learn, by questioning. Lastly The reason I want to know about snares so much is because up to this year my best season was 48 coon With 2 doz 1.5s This year my total was 106 with 21 1.5's and 5 doz snares. Some of them I reused.

LOL You got that right. Iacoonkiller beats me to as many trails as I beat him to but we both find plenty of trails.

SD boy, that's the same logic I use, I try to catch more coons with my time rather than putting up the furs. It all evens out in the end but this way makes my buyer more money and a happy fur buyer is a good thing.

Yeah, I'll be coming down this fall and be there for quite a few seasons actually. Working on my PhD and teaching at the University of Iowa. Hope to do some trapping. I don't want to derail this thread any more than I have though, I'll start another one here at some point with a bunch of questions I have.

Snaring up here is a lot different. Lethal for one thing, but the main difference is that I am not targeting super high volume critters like coons and that changes the entire philosophy.

I trap some in Jasper county, it's some of my favorite stuff to trap, lot's of coons and lots of theives, of course you could say the same for Tama and Poweshiek.

Don't worry "iacooner" there's plenty of coons to go around, I think it's impossible to dent the coon population around here.

Speaking of meeting up ADC, I wouldn't mind crossing paths sometime with you. I've never met you personally.

sd boy, sure snaring can be a numbers game, Some seasons I've focused on the quality of sets and some seasons I've focused on the quantity of sets, both ways seems to yield the same results. The way I look at it, If I am driving from one great trail to another great trail, why not set in the mediocre trails along the way. I am suprised how some the saddest excuses for trails yeild coons year after year.

I am also big on double setting. I double set at least 50% of my trails, it makes resetting faster when I catch one coon in a trail, and it gives you frequent chances for doubles which are always nice to see.

I suppose it's also double the excitment for theives when they only have to stop once to steal 2 of my snares and stakes.